USDA

The recent International Congress of Plant Pathology (ICPP) in Boston brought together members of the plant health community from all over the world. Large events are a great place to forge new relationships, strengthen existing ones, or simply get everyone together in one place. The importance of working together is always emphasised when all corners of the community come together and find the space to discuss and discover common ground.

MoALF, CABI and USDA representatives meeting in Point Fortin, Trinidad

On the 6 of March 2017, the Honourable Minister of Agriculture Land and Fisheries of Trinidad and Tobago, Mr Clarence Rambharat, and his team met with CABI Plantwise Regional Coordinator, Dr. Yelitza Colmenarez and with the USDA representative for the Caribbean Mr. Wayne De Chi , in order to review and restructure Plantwise activities in the country. “Food security is one of our national priority areas and it’s important to keep supporting the Plantwise activities in the country in order to ensure farmers are getting the technical advice needed”, the Minister said.

Landsat 7 records thermal images that can be used to estimate evapotranspiration. Landsat imagery courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and U.S. Geological Survey

The USDA Agricultural Research Service, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is developing a computer model to map evapotranspiration data from Landsat satellites, which can be used to remotely assess crop health.

The US Geological Survey Landsat satellites have been in orbit since 1972. These satellites, which take an image of each point on the Earth’s surface once every 16-18 days, have thermal and optical sensors to collect land imagery. This is used by agriculture and forestry researchers and global change analysts to assess changes in vegetation, soil moisture content and mineral deposits. Continue reading →

With glossy pink shop window dressings and glittery red hearts everywhere, the arrival of Valentine’s day has been hard to ignore. Even Plantwise has not been able to escape it, with new relationships being established across the Atlantic last week. During a visit to Washington DC a new collaboration was agreed between Plantwise and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), which will allow content sharing between the two bodies.

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If you are active in the field of plant health or development and would like to contribute to the Plantwise Blog, please contact Donna Hutchinson. We are happy to post any credible articles that we think would be of interest to our readership.

Views expressed in contributions do not necessarily reflect official CABI or Plantwise positions.